358 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
June 9 
one of which runs over each pulley and down to the 
proper height to attach to its corner of the rack for 
which purpose it has a strong hook. Over the drum 
is wound a rope which comes down to the floor and 
runs under a pulley and to which the team is attached 
for elevating the load. He drives the load upon the 
floor and while the driver removes the team and 
hitches to the drum rope, he hooks a rope to the ring 
in each corner of the rack. When all is ready, the 
team having a purchase of six to one, easily elevates 
rack, load and all to the height of the mow, and with 
a proper system of ratchet and dogs it is held there 
and easily rolled off into the mow. When this is done, 
by a slight pull on the drum rope, the dogs are 
released, and by a brake applied to the drum the rack 
is lowered to its place on the wagon, the team replaced 
and all is ready for another load. 
Several of the “ cars” are now so made that when 
the sling or fork is raised to the proper height to pass 
over the mow, the car can be released and the load 
held at that height, while the car will run back over 
the mow wherever desired. As the dumping is done 
by the persons on the mow, the load, by swinging, 
may be made to reach any part of the mow. While 
this is a little extra trouble to the mow hands, it 
really saves much hard work, and with a little practice 
they can keep the mow very level with very little hand 
work. Of course not every barn is so made that this 
can be done. There is a “ big beam ” 
in the way, but no one now building a 
barn, should fail to provide for this way 
of unloading. 
How to Handle Clover Hay. 
So long as I make my hay, which is 
all clover, in cocks exclusively, unless 
the loaders do better than any at pres¬ 
ent, I shall be compelled to have it put 
on the wagons by hand labor. I And it 
a great saving of both time and labor to 
have wagons with broad tires and low 
wheels, and have racks made long and 
broad. A wagon of this kind will draw 
in the ordinary meadow quite as easily 
as the common style, and 15 or 18 inches 
saved in the height lessens greatly the 
labor of pitching on. As every forkful 
has to be elevated just that much less, 
the number of forkfuls multiplied by the 
saving in distance figures up into miles, 
and a saving of many horse power in 
aggregate expenditure of muscle. It is 
not alone the hay that has to be lifted, 
but the weight of fork must be added to each forkful. 
When it comes to the unloading, so long as the 
elevating is done by the horse, what care we for 
the extra foot or two in height when the load is 
under motion. Many object to the use of slings or 
horse forks, on the ground that very much more labor 
is required to get the hay out of the mows for feeding 
in winter. But by using a hay knife freely, and cut¬ 
ting the mow into small sections, there is no weight 
in this objection. I have never had a hay mow 
but would “melt away ” soon enough, and no one 
complains of the labor as hard work. It almost seems 
to come out itself. The putting of it in is where the 
trouble lies. .t. s. woodward. 
SULPHUR AND VERMIN. 
Can We FEED It With Safety? 
THK TARGET. 
We hear many stories about the use of sulphur in the food to kill 
vermin on poultry. People tell us of feeding dry sulphur In the sraln, 
and state that when this Is done the hens keep entirely free from ver¬ 
min. Will you be kind enough to tell us what you think of this plan ? 
Is It sensible ? Is It of any use to add sulphur to the dust bath 1 
What Lice Think of Sulphur. 
Soon after giving sulphur to a chicken, the fumes or 
smell will come out through the pores of the skin. 
This the lice do not like, and they will run out on the 
feathers to get away from it, but it does not last long, 
and they will go in again. In order to keep them away 
from the body, it is necessary to keep giving sulphur 
at least once or twice a day, which I claim is too much 
for the good of the fowls. Sulphur in the dust bath is 
a good thing, and if the fowls are neat and clean 
themselves, it will drive off the lice. Some fowls are 
too lazy or careless about keeping clean, and such 
will have to be dusted with sulphur, insect powder, 
air-slaked lime, or something similar to kill the lice. 
If proper attention is paid the latter can be kept off. 
JAMR8 H. SEELY. 
No Confidence in Sulphur. 
I have no confidence in the use of sulphur in either 
way mentioned. Many years ago, when we used hens 
instead of incubators, we used sulphur in the nests in 
quantity. We found it of no benefit whatever, but 
very productive of sore eyes in chicks. We have never 
used it since, except as a tonic occe-sionally for dis¬ 
eased fowls. The best thing to keep vermin or lice 
from the nest is a circular piece of tarred paper about 
six or eight inches in diameter, covered over lightly 
with chaff or straw. You will never have lice where 
this is used. james rankin. 
• Kill Vermin Some Other Way. 
I formerly used sulphur in the feed for hens. I 
never saw any benefit from it as a preventive of ver¬ 
min, but found it positively injurious to their health, 
unless fed in very small quantities. In my opinion, 
even if it is possible to feed hens a sufiSeient amount 
of sulphur to make them vermin proof, the injury to 
their health would far outweigh its benefit and the 
vermin might better be disposed of in some other way. 
C. H. WYCKOFF. 
What I. K. Felch Has to Say. 
In earlier days we put sulphur in the food ; also in 
the dust bath. It was commonly thought to eradicate 
lice. If smudging a house with burned brimstone 
will clean it of lice, why will not its introduction into 
the food assist in the same way ? If administered in 
the food, give when the fowls are very hungry. Mix 
it with meal, and make the meal into dough with 
cold water. If put into anything like cooked food, it 
makes a mess the fowls will leave. A person cannot 
take sulphur without charging his clothes with it. 
and I do not see why it would not go through the 
hens 8S well. I put sulphur into the earth which I 
put into my henhouses. Whether it kills lice or not, 
the hens need sulphur. An egg is charged with sul¬ 
phur ; where does the hen get it ? When fowls have 
been shut in during a long winter, the earth is cov¬ 
ered with snow, and the eggs lack sufiScient sulphur, 
why do they fail to hatch ? Is it for want of sulphur? 
While I do not know as a fact that sulphur kills lice 
by the hens eating it, neither do I know for a fact 
that this want of sulphur in their systems prevents 
eggs hatching in early spring ; yet I would guess it all 
A Cart for Hauling Ensilage. Fig. 99. 
the same, and put it in their dust bath and on the 
gravelly loamed floors. In the boxes where grain is 
fed would be a good place to feed it. If forced to ac¬ 
cept or reject the theory, I would uphold the system 
of furnishing sulphur. Crushed charcoal mixed with 
sulphur I think will be eaten, and Nature tells a hen 
what to eat when she has a chance to select. 
Sulphur Only for Worms. 
I never recommend sulphur, except for worms in 
the intestines. When sulphur is given, it affects the 
system as does any other mineral substance, the re¬ 
sult being rheumatism if the location is damp. It has 
been found beneficial for moulting hens, but should 
be used moderately. The dust bath of fine, dry earth, 
is alone sufldcient. If anything must be added, it 
should be a small proportion of fresh Dalmatian insect 
powder. I have never known sulphur to prevent lice, 
except in the same manner as occurs by the use of 
fine dust. p. h. Jacobs. 
How Lice Are Killed. 
I do not believe there is any sense or benefit in feed¬ 
ing fowls sulphur to free them, or keep them free 
from vermin. I know it to be positively injurious to 
feed them sulphur in the feed. It is laxative, and fed 
in any sufficient quantities to affect the system, it will 
kill chicks and debilitate fowls. It also has the effect 
of opening the pores of the skin, rendering fowls 
liable to colds even when kept dry, and sure to get 
colds if they get wet. Sulphur used in the dust bath 
will be of benefit. Not because of any poisonous 
effects on parasites, but because it is very fine dust. 
These parasites are devoid of lung . breathing through 
the pores of the skin. Any dust sufficiently fine to fill 
these pores, kills the lice, I believe-that wheat flour 
would kill the lice that live on the fowls just as 
quickly and surely as sulphur. I know that air-slaked 
lime, kept covered and dry, is superior to sulphur in 
the dust bath. Mixed with road dust, or even with 
sifted coal ashes and dusted thoroughly into the feath¬ 
ers, it will destroy the lice as quickly and surely as 
sulphur. It is superior because cheaper. I have used 
sulphur liberally in the nests, and on sitting hens in 
hot weather, and found on taking off and examining 
the box under the nesting material, living lice among 
the little sulphur that had settled to the bottom of 
the box. The sulphur dusted freely and often upon the 
hen, had driven the pests off, but had not killed them. 
When using the lime and fine road dust, I never found 
living lice in the bottom of the boxes. 
I have a neighbor who is an extensive breeder of 
fine poultry; his vermin destroyer is 
dry, air-slaked lime and very fine road 
dust. This is his dust bath for fowls, 
and he sifts it upon the young chicks. 
It is cheap, and he throws it around 
in his henhouses, keeping the cracks 
full where it will settle from its weight. 
His fowls are free from lice ; the chicks 
do not get lousy. The bottoms of his 
coops are covered with it, often renewed, 
and the chicks sleep on it. He formerly 
was troubled with both red and white 
mites, but has never seen them since 
using the lime. The mixture is harm¬ 
less to the birds, young or old. He 
never has to burn sulphur to fumigate 
his houses, never whitewashes with lime, 
which is useless after the walls get dry. 
The dust keeps them free, the lime keeps 
them sweet. A half bushel of stone lime, 
costing 15 cents, lasts a year for 150 
birds. 
I use lime and fine dust in my dust 
baths and houses, and for birds of my 
own raising it keeps them clean. But 
when I bring home birds from other premises, to 
make quick and sure work, I dust them thoroughly— 
no half-way business—with either Persian insect 
powder or Lambert’s Death to Lice. Either is effec¬ 
tual. This sulphur talk, like a great many other 
talks, is somebody’s fad. For a time I took much of 
it for granted, but experience has proved to me that 
road dust, if as fine as sulphur, is just as good, pound 
for pound, as sulphur. h s burdick. 
WHAT SHALL BE DONE TO PASTURES ? 
TO RAISE GOOD GRASS FROM DROPPINGS, 
r I. What Is the best treatment for pastures? 2. Where the droppings 
of animals occur, the next season there Is a good growth of grass, but 
the mares will not eat It, though they crop the surrounding pasture 
close. The manure has been spread early In the spring. Some say 
that spreading lime or potash over these spots will correct this trou¬ 
ble. Is this the best treatment? w. h. k. 
Trevose, Pa. 
Pasture Tillable Land in the Barn. 
I do not pasture much tillable land, as I think it 
poor economy. I have a large acreage not suitable 
for tillage, that I pasture and find little trouble with 
the droppings. Before I had so much land I scattered 
these piles by knocking them about with a hoe or 
wooden mallet, in the fall, not in the spring. Stock 
will usually eat the small, tender grass, leaving that 
of coarse, luxuriant growth, even where there is no 
manure. a. j. s. 
Go and Spread the Manure. 
The best method within our knowledge for treating 
pastures where animals have herded during the sea¬ 
son, is to go through in the autumn and carefully 
spread all accumulations of manure. If there are 
certain places where the animals have herded so as 
to make the ground richer than is necessary, we would 
recommend drawing the surplus to some barren knoll 
and spread it. If this is done, and the manure thor¬ 
oughly spread in the fall, we think there will be no 
such trouble as is complained of. 
SMITHS & POWELL CO. 
To Keep Pastures in Good Heart. 
1. While nitrogen is a very essential element of plant 
growth, and where used upon the true grasses pro¬ 
duces wonderful luxuriance, from long and careful 
observation of its use, I am convinced that more 
pastures suffer from a deficiency of phosphoric acid 
Filling a Round Silo in Delaware. Fig. 98. 
